2011 Golden Spikes Award Finalists Announced

FROM CBD NEWS SOURCEDURHAM, N.C. — USA Baseball announced Monday the names of the three finalists for the 2011 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award (GSA). This summer marks the 34th consecutive year that the GSA will be presented to the nation’s premier amateur baseball player.

Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA, Danny Hultzen, LHP/IF/OF, Virginia, and Taylor Jungmann, RHP, Texas, received the most votes last week from the nearly 200-person GSA voting committee. The three players represent the first-ever class of finalists made up entirely of pitchers.

Fans can continue to stay up to date on the GSA by visiting GoldenSpikesAward.com— powered by MLB.com — which serves as the online home for the award. The Web site features content devoted exclusively to the GSA, including news, voting history, past winner photo galleries, and photographs and video highlights for the 2011 finalists.

For the first time ever, the GSA will be awarded live on MLB Network. The presentation will begin at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Tonight, Friday, July 15. The three finalists for the award will be at MLB Network’s studios for the presentation, which will feature interviews, video highlights and the announcement of the winner. Online footage of the event also will be available via GoldenSpikesAward.com and MLB.com.

“In a year of incredible performances from players across the diamond, our voting committee felt that three pitchers stood out above the rest,” said USA Baseball executive director/CEO Paul Seiler. “We congratulate Trevor Bauer, Danny Hultzen and Taylor Jungmann, along with their coaching staffs, teammates and their schools’ baseball programs.”

Trevor Bauer, Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Year, had a record breaking season in 2011. The Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year set the conference single-season record for strikeouts with 203, eclipsing the previous record (202) set by 2001 GSA winner Mark Prior (Southern California). Bauer went 13-2 for the Bruins, throwing 10 complete games (tied for first in UCLA single-season record history) over 136.2 innings pitched (seventh most in UCLA single-season records history). Bauer is the first GSA finalist from UCLA since Troy Glaus in 1997.

Danny Hultzen became the first-ever three-time All-American for the Virginia Cavaliers in 2011. The lefty has posted an 11-3 record on the mound with a 1.57 ERA and 148 strikeouts. His impressive stats helped him become UVa’s all-time career leader in wins (31) and strikeouts (378). The two-time ACC Pitcher of the Year is seventh in ACC history in career strikeouts and has been named First-Team All-ACC three consecutive years. Hultzen has also hit .336 for the season driving in 34 runs, including 10 doubles, two triples and a home run. Prior to Hultzen, the Cavaliers’ last GSA finalist was Seth Greisinger in 1996.

Taylor Jungmann solidified himself as one of the most dominant pitchers in Texas and Big 12 history with his performance in 2011. The junior was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and a First Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger. This season he is 13-1 with a 1.40 ERA, 119 strikeouts, a .168 batting average against and five complete games in 128.1 innings pitched. Jungmann was also named to both the Big 12 All-First Team and All-Academic First Team. He is the first Longhorn finalist since Kyle Russell in 2007.

In 2007, USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball, and it follows the same model again in 2011. After working closely with sports information directors and amateur baseball media across the country to determine watch lists and the top-performing athletes, a list of 30 semifinalists was sent to the GSA voting committee last week. The three players that received the most votes advanced to the finalist round, and beginning Monday at 3:30 p.m. ET, the committee will have the opportunity to vote for a winner.

Fans will once again be able to vote for the 2011 GSA by visiting GoldenSpikesAward.com and selecting their favorite finalist. Voting for fans and the voting body ends at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, June 17.

Brian Foley is the founder and Lead Editor of College Baseball Daily since its inception in 2005.

He has covered two CWS, multiple NCAA Baseball Regionals, and other special events across the country. In addition to his duties with College Baseball Daily, he has covered games for Inside Lacrosse and been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal among other publications.

He can be contacted by email at editor at collegebaseballdaily.com and followed on Twitter @BFoley82.